(In Our Humble Opinion) by Vicki Tobin ~ Vice President of The Equine Welfare Alliance

Editor’s Note:  Vicki has kept us all both entertained and informed with her ongoing series of “Dissecting Disinformation“ where she has attempted to put the facts and truth out as a rebuttal to false and misleading drivel that spouts from the mouth of  Wyoming’s pride, “Slaughterhouse” Sue Wallis.  Of late, the Princess of Perversion has publicly picked up her fork and knife as she aims at adding our native wild horses to her far too abundant, twisted menu.  Two or three lost souls have bought into this tripe and have elected to join her on her dark and dead-end journey to destruction.  “The Blog” that Vicki refers to in her article below, is one such group; in reality, I believe the blogger is actually the same individual that answers his/her self as there are only two or three people who buy into the nonsense.  But Vicki puts them straight and with great gusto, enjoy! ~ R.T.)

"Nothing like a steaming hot plate of your best friend after a hard day of work!"

Every once in a while, I come across a blog or comment that is just so ludicrous that it has to be shared. This is small blog that is very much content with posting comments to themselves. Rarely will you see more than a few comments and it’s always the same three people. I periodically check to see what new tales they have concocted. Since we know the slaughter proponents are trying to make light of the drug issue, this one caught my eye.

They constantly try to incite John and me into posting as you will see toward the end of this. John has nailed them quite a few times and instead of providing facts to challenge John’s posts, their answer was to accuse him of breeding horses and sending them to slaughter. We gave up trying to have a discussion with them as it is much like trying to reason with a terrorist. When there is no regard for the horse’s life, what is there to discuss? The years of service, working or earning money by racing, performing, etc., mean nothing.

Their latest blog is regarding the EU regulations. Grab the beverage of your choice and take a journey into the minds of the illogical and never ending schemes of ways to keep killing horses.

The Blog: I have already read some articles by vets on this, the US will very likely research and begin putting withdrawal times on drugs for horses like they do for cattle and other “intended for food livestock”.

VT: Really? Do you understand what prohibited means? The prohibited drugs are prohibited in all food producing animals, not just horses. There are no withdrawal periods. Many horse meds do have withdrawal periods but the prohibited drugs are forever prohibited. Bute, that is frequently cited as an example, is prohibited in all food producing animals. Prohibited means if they have every received the drug in their lifetime, they are forbidden from entering the food chain. It means the drugs are not safe to be ingested by humans. It is called consumer food safety. Those rules have always been in place but were not enforced with US horses.

Vets cannot “put” withdrawal times on meds. The FDA and EU mandate the protocols on drugs.

The Blog: Will the price per pound on qualifying horses go up? We are told so few will pass the requirements meaning lower supply for the same demand. Heck demand may even go up since people will feel horse meat is now safe to eat.

VT: Since few will pass the requirements, rather than take care of those few, you are bound and determined to pull out all stops to slaughter them. And while you’re at it, you hope you can rake in a few extra dollars. Maybe with all the extra cash, the owner’s can accompany their horses and view the humane end of life they have chosen for their horse.

The Blog: I do believe there will be horses bred strictly for meat.

VT: This is the wisdom of slaughter proponents at its best. We already have a population of horses that have been going to slaughter that most likely will not be eligible for slaughter (you stated few will qualify) so the solution is to breed more horses and create a new population of horses. You can’t take care of the current population you breed so let’s breed more! Isn’t that just brilliant? What plans do you have for the horses that can’t go to slaughter? Just ignore them or are you finally suggesting that owners be held accountable and be responsible for their horses? I know, this is a hard concept to grasp for slaughter proponents.

BTW, all we hear from slaughter proponents is that slaughter is needed as an end of life option Raising horses for slaughter is not an end of life option. Since you now want to raise horses for slaughter, are you are admitting that was just another piece of propaganda you hoped the public would buy? Or is it that you just can’t get your stories straight?

The Blog: I do believe culls will still go to the plant, they’ll just spend more time on the feed lot.

VT: Another shining example of slaughter economics. Pay hundreds and hundreds to feed and care for the horses for 6 months and in return, $300 per horse. I suspect these folks have been giving input to Wall Street. Don’t you think the culls would have been wormed? They do actually try to sell them before culling so I doubt anyone is going to want to buy a horse full of worms. If so, the quarantine does not apply. They can’t go to slaughter.

The Blog: Keeping records is all it will require. (Note: blog owner said she kept records on her 14 year old gelding)

VT: Kudos to you for keeping records on your horse but the EU is not looking for home grown records. Surely you don’t think the EU is going to take an owner’s word for the horse being safe for consumption, do you? There must be a national passport system so there is a legitimate mechanism in place to remove horses that have received prohibited substances. It is an EU requirement for food safety. Who is going to pay for that? Do you think horse owners are going to stand still and have a passport system shoved down their throats so the owners of 2% of the horse population can continue to not take responsibility for their horses?

The Blog: Some horses will go to the unregulated plants in Mexico. We know they already are but will that number increase? Will the unqualified horse be even cheaper and more obtainable for that market now?

VT: The market for our horses is overseas. The unregulated plants in Mexico do not ship overseas, the meat is used locally. The plants that ship overseas are EU regulated and must comply with EU regs.

Are you saying that the horses that don’t qualify should still be sent to slaughter to unregulated plants and willingly let consumers eat the meat even though you know it isn’t safe? That is a wonderful statement to the consumers in Mexico.

The Blog: Will the NAHSC be able to help them? I certainly don’t believe they will but they will be patting themselves on the back and taking credit for the EU regulating food safety for their citizens. Do they not know that’s all it is about? It is not for the welfare of horses. Why on earth do they think they have had any hand in what other Countries allow their people to eat or not?

VT: Food safety is about protecting the consumers of the meat. That’s why the EU and FDA have regulations. They also have regulations on the treatment of animals that provide food. They are currently investigating the Animals’ Angels footage of Mexican plants and depending on the results; the plant could be shut down or heavily fined.

Nobody has a hand and shouldn’t have a hand in controlling what other countries eat. We do, however, have control over our horses becoming a menu item. Ending the slaughter of US horses has nothing to do with changing other countries cultures or what they eat. They will still be able to eat all the horse meat they desire. All the EU is doing is making certain it is safe to consume. It is quite obvious by your comments and other slaughter proponents that you don’t give two hoots about consumer safety, only your rabid obsession with slaughtering horses.

Europe has wised up to what they’ve been eating and how the slaughter horses have been treated. They have decades of investigations exposing the horrors in the US, Canadian, South American and Mexican plants. They are intelligent people and realize what they have been eating and what the horses went through to end up on their plates. The market has responded with three major grocers removing US horse meat. They have assured their customers that they will only sell European horse meat.

So while you have been laughing at us and telling us we are full of it and calling us morons and idiots, you should have been taking the investigations and drug warnings seriously and doing something about it. Instead, other countries are going to do it for you. Year after year, you spewed propaganda and twisted the truth to explain away the horrors that were being exposed. Instead of making sure the horses were treated humanely, properly stunned and not crammed into cattle trucks, slaughter proponents chose to justify the cruelty. To this day, you defend those that send their horses to the most brutal end of life imaginable and still perpetuate the lies that got you to where you are today. Henry Skjerven, the director at Natural Valley Meats (Cavel in Canada) said, slaughter is the worst 4 minutes of a horse’s life. But you still dismiss cruelty investigations and the undisputed drug issue, tie a bow around it and call it in the best interest of the horses.

And, BTW, the CFIA has declared that the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition investigations were legitimate. We knew that but the slaughter proponents just had to try to explain them away as being staged. Do you see a pattern here? It’s called profit off the suffering of animals. Hide the truth and when it’s exposed, make excuses to justify it.

The Blog: John, Vicki, Alex, and the rest of you knot heads, Stop taking credit where it is not yours to take. You already get credit for the suffering of many horses, isn’t that enough for you?

VT: This is beyond priceless. I assume you are referring to all the claims of abuse and neglect. We are not the cause of horses suffering although that was a nice touch. Be it neglect or abandonment, there is one person responsible and that is the owner or the person that committed the crime. Why do you always dismiss owner responsibility and try to blame everyone else? Furthermore, since slaughter is still available, you should be asking the owners why they choose to abuse and neglect their horses rather than send them to slaughter. There is nothing stopping them.

Ooops, that would require you admitting we were right when we said that slaughter doesn’t prevent abuse, neglect or abandonment. So rather than admit you are wrong, you put an emotional spin on it. It sounds so much better to blame the closure of the plants. Blame the advocates. Blame the government. Blame the FDA & EU. How could the advocates want to stop those poor horses from being crammed into cattle trucks, abused at the auctions, abused at the feed lots and putting them out of their misery by vivisecting them? How cruel of us. Oh, the drama! And who is emotional – you guys have us beat tenfold.

Here’s a little hint. Take a look at the slaughter statistics and you will realize how very uneducated you sound. Next, you might want to try to find out why there was so much abuse and neglect when the plants were open. While you’re at it, you might want to look the decrease in neglect for the 2 years that Cavel was shut down. History and data don’t support your comments but as we all know, you never let the facts get in your way. Who are the knot heads?

The Blog: What’s next, you ego maniacal morons? Gonna jump on the HSUS band wagon and fight for no animal ownership just guardianship? Make it possible for Rover to sue their guardian in a court of law over a dog food dispute, or over the humiliation of having your nose rubbed in it when you had an accident on the carpet…

VT: Living up to the slaughter handbook of Who’s on First, the name calling starts and the attempt to interject animal rights before we even post a comment. It must be because you noticed that we no longer try to engage in conversation on your site. Did one of our press releases prompt this name calling episode or did you forget to take your meds? Perhaps you could get one of the three of you to post a comment masquerading as an equine advocate and start a real ruckus. Since none of you post under your real names, you can say John or I are posting under a fake name. The three of you (or is it the blog owner posting to herself?) can have a ball!

It must really be frustrating to not be able to state one fact that supports horse slaughter and have to resort to name calling and bringing other issues into the mix that have nothing to do with ending horse slaughter. Bet you think you’re going to throw us off track, don’t you? Trying to goad us into a different issue so that you don’t have to answer the hard questions? Just more rhetoric and emotion. When will you understand that animals will never have rights other than to be treated humanely? We are not advocating animal rights. And just keep throwing HSUS and PETA out there. We are neither but since you keep saying it over and over again, they must be a threat to you. They must be making a difference so perhaps we should join forces with them.

The Blog: Better be careful I know several horses who would start a class action suite against you for much of their suffering.

VT: Is a class action suite a stable with upscale stalls for horses that provides a lot of action?

In closing, good luck with all your scheming and finding ways to kill horses. Fortunately, Americans are outraged as they have never been before and it is only a matter of time…

ps Although not posted here, we congratulate on your 14 year old gelding that has never been wormed or received medication. Will you repay him for the 14 years of companionship by shipping him off to slaughter?

Note to the blog: come on over to our blog that gets thousands of hits per day and join in the discussion.

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